With the support of the Ontario, federal and municipal governments, LG Energy Solution and Stellantis is investing in Windsor for the province's first large-scale Electric Vehicle battery manufacturing plant.
According to News Ontario, the joint venture of the above two companies will invest more than CDN $5 billion (USD $4.1 billion) to build a facility in Windsor to manufacture batteries for EVs in Canada. This will represent the largest automotive manufacturing investment in the history of the province. This historic investment puts Ontario on a path to becoming one of the most vertically integrated automotive jurisdictions in the emerging North American EV market.
The battery facility will have a production capacity of 45 gigawatt hours (GWh) and will supply Stellantis plants in the North American market. This will create an estimated 2,500 new jobs.
Construction is scheduled to begin later this year with production operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024. The facility will be fully operational by 2025.
"Attracting this multi-billion dollar investment will secure Ontario's place as a North American hub for building the cars and batteries of the future. As we secure game-changing investments, we are also connecting resources, industries and workers in northern Ontario with the manufacturing might of southern Ontario to build up home-grown supply chains. Every region of Ontario will benefit with thousands of jobs being created and a stronger economy that works for everyone."
Premier of Ontario | Doug Ford
Business Facilities states that Windsor, Ontario is home to Canada's largest automotive cluster, and Stellantis and LGES expect the plant to serve as a catalyst for the establishment of a strong battery supply chain in the region.
As part of its Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis plans to have global annual battery EV sales of five million vehicles by 2030, reaching 100% of passenger car battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales mix in Europe and 50% passenger and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in North America. Stellantis has also increased planned battery capacity by 140 GWh to approximately 400 GWh, to be supported by five battery manufacturing plants together with additional supply contracts.
Mopar Insiders reports that both companies expect the construction of the new facility to begin in the second quarter of 2022.
According to Automotive News Canada, both companies have chosen Windsor-Essex County in Ontario as the future home for its new joint venture plant and the battery cells at the new facility will be distributed amongst the Stellantis assembly plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Windsor, Ontario was chosen because it is home to Canada's largest automotive cluster. Stellantis hopes to achieve an aggressive electrification road map in the region and they aim to hit 50% of battery-electric vehicle sales in the US and Canada by the end of the decade according to Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO.
Per News Ontario, this investment will accelerate Ontario's 10 year vision for the Driving Prosperity - The Future of Ontario's Automotive Sector Plan. Phase 2 of Driving Prosperity demonstrates the government's commitment to transform the province's automotive supply chain to build the cars of the future, including the production of hybrid and fully battery electric vehicles, EV battery and component production, and increasing exports of Ontario-made auto parts and innovations.
Stellantis' investments in Ontario encompass the entire EV ecosystem including:
- EV assembly
- Next-generation R&D
- Battery manufacturing
LG Energy Solution has 30 years of experience in advanced battery technology and is a leading global battery manufacturer which includes:
- Delivering advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles mobility
- IT applications
- Energy storage systems
Over the past 18 months, the automotive sector in Ontario has seen more than $11 billion in investments for new vehicle production mandates and battery manufacturing, including this one by LGES and Stellantis. More than $4 billion of these investments are in transformative electric vehicle production at Ontario assembly plants.
